{one room challenge} Rinse & Repeat: Planning a Laundry Room Do-Over

Hi there! If you are stopping by for the first time from the One Room Challenge - welcome! I'm Angela, an attorney turned stay-at-home mom to two boys - a three and a half year old and a two year old. In my spare moments {which can be hard to come by}, my passions are all things artistic, and my house is my palette. It's a constant work in progress -- decorating, organizing, DIYing, and generally making things pretty. I love modern design, big graphic patterns, and lots of color!

For a decor loving mom who can never seem to get enough done {as evidenced by mounting piles of laundry}, the One Room Challenge is just the kick in the rear I need to take on a big project and finish it! And that's why I'm jumping in with both feet as a guest participant in the ORC for the fourth time in two years...because I work best under a deadline!

Over the course of the next five weeks, I'm going to be working like crazy to completely makeover a space in our home. But this time, rather than tackling a room of that's never received the attention it deserves, I'm actually going to be re-doing the very first space in our house that ever got any love and attention at all - the laundry room!

Well, to be clear, the term laundry "room" might a bit deceiving... I bet you guys didn't think I could possibly come up with a One Room Challenge space smaller than my last one - but, surprise, I did! The under stair playroom I created this spring came is a whopping 37.5 square feet, but our laundry / linen closet is even tinier at only 28 square feet.

It's small size is really just a technicality, though, because this "closet" sees as much action as any room in our house! And that's exactly why it deserves some love!

Before I show you the plans -- the back story...

When I graduated from law school {ten years ago - gulp!!}, I bought a condo in downtown Denver that had a laundry closet just big enough for a stackable washer and dryer. And let me tell you, that little laundry closet was a major step up in the world! It meant no longer dragging all my clothes down to a dark and scary basement, as I had to do at my apartments throughout undergrad and grad school.

As much as I appreciated that little closet, when Scott and I began hunting for a new home a few years later, one of the "musts" on my list was a real laundry room.

Ironically, the house we ended up purchasing {our current home} had almost everything on our wish list except for a laundry room. So, once again I ended up settling for a laundry closet, but unlike the tiny condo closet, this one is large enough for a side by side washer and dryer.

The laundry closet is situated in our second floor hallway behind a set of double doors immediately adjacent to a second, narrower set of doors that open to our linen closet. Despite being accessed from two different sets of doors, internally the laundry and linen closet are open together.

Long before we ever purchased our current house, I picked up some art and coordinating storage boxes on clearance, with the plan in mind that I would use the items to decorate our eventual laundry room. Even though we wound up with only a closet, I didn't want these items to go unused, so I decided that I would simply paint and decorate the laundry closet as though it was a room.

My husband thought I was a bit nutty when I insisted on painting the laundry / linen closet red literally the day that we closed on our home. But I convinced him {and myself} that having a pretty and happy laundry space would make me more inclined to do the laundry in a timely manner.

Want to see more of the current laundry space, including how we DIY'd the counter top and shelves for under $65?

I wish I could say that I now love doing laundry...but that would be a lie.

My three year old on the other hand - that kid LOVES to help with the laundry as long as there is music playing!!

Now, I'm not sure that any room - no matter how beautiful - would ever make me as excited as this kid about the laundry, but I'm ready to give it another go. And that's where this laundry room makeover comes in.

We have now been in our home for 7 years, and, as our home style has evolved, the laundry space no longer fits. With two young sons, laundry is a constant in our house, so the doors to the laundry closet are open more often than not.

I've been playing around with the idea of redoing the laundry closet for a while now, and this summer, while attending a design trade show in New York, I came across a new temporary wallpaper product in a textured brick pattern that I fell head over heels in love with. By the time my plane had landed back in Denver, I was already planning a laundry room makeover around that wallpaper, and I knew the One Room Challenge would be the perfect opportunity to make it happen.

What do you think? I'm banishing the red in favor of a much brighter, fresher, and more sophisticated look. And I'm so excited to finally have an excuse to use some pops of Kelly green! I'm also thrilled to be partnering with three fantastic companies to bring this space to life - IKEA Centennial, Minted, and Tempaper. You'll be hearing more about them as the weeks go on!

I know that I'm not the only one out there who is living with a laundry closet while wishing I had a spacious laundry room... so I hope that this makeover will inspire others to embrace their small space and make the very most of it!

Now that you've seen the laundry room plans, let's chat a little about the linen closet. Since you can see from the laundry closet into the linen closet - it, of course, needs a coordinating makeover as well!

When we moved in, there were no shelves in this closet, so we added inexpensive, adjustable shelves and I used various bins and baskets to organize it. But over the past seven years, the bins have gone from organized, to simply keeping the mess hidden. So it's time for an organizing overhaul!

This project is my favorite kind because it combines both beauty and function! I have quite a few ideas for making both the laundry closet and the linen closet function much better than before with some well thought out, stylish organizing solutions!

So ,what do you guys think of my plans?! Come back each Thursday to see my progress leading up to the final reveal on November 12th!

I hope you are as excited about the return of the One Room Challenge as I am, and don't forget that every week you can also hop over to Calling it Home to find links to track the progress of all the other talented bloggers and designers that are participating in the ORC!

If you want to learn more about the One Room Challenge, you can read about it here, and also be sure to also check out my three prior ORC projects!

I'm so excited to see you're doing another One Room Challenge!! You've knocked it out of the park in years past. Your "laundry room" feels a lot like mine, stuffed in a closet with only two bi-fold doors to hold all that laundry junk stuffed inside. It looks like yours is going to be beautiful!! I can't wait to follow along and see it all happen!

I love your plans for the laundry room, it will be so bright and airy. Also more organized, we all need more of that! This is my first time taking part in the challenge and I am excited to follow along and see everyone's progress!

Love your new laundry. Exactly my kind of style. Sophisticated and chic but practical as well. That red is very similar to my one in our kitchen which I'm redoing over the next 6 weeks. Definitely needs to go! Can't wait to see your progress.x

Oh I just love how your laundry closet/linen closet is going! It is going to be fabulous!!! (Duh, just look who is creating it - everything is fab when Angela does it!) Now you have me thinking of my nasty laundry area - totally exposed and off the kitchen (main entrance to the farm house)...I hate it, so I guess I really should tackle it. Thanks for the inspiration!!!

These plans look so amazing Angela! I always love your style, so I know I'll love how this turns out. The green color in your inspiration boards is beautiful! Can't wait to see how it changes! Lindi @ Love Create Celebrate :)

Oh my gosh, I IOVE your laundry room as it is now...I would love to decorate mine that way..!! I believe that's how I started following you, someone had shared it or something. Anyways it is yours, enjoy your makeover...! !

I loved it to when I first decorated it - I think it's just time for something new :) BUT I am hoping to find a happy new home for all the matching pieces that I'm taking out of the red laundry room - the art, the hat boxes, etc. If you are serious about wanting to decorate yours the same way - I'd be happy to sell it all to you! If you are interested, you can leave me a message here or email me at blueistyleblog (at) gmail (dot) com.

I am loving the vision you have for this space! It's going to be so light and bright, are you sure laundry won't be more fun? Lol. Green, black and white is always a great combo! The ORC is such a good motivator for those spaces we need to redo or finish up, I love it!

Angela, first of all I love your organization and current laundry room! However, I love your plans for the makeover! I have a closet laundry room too, which is part of our kitchen. I thought about doing it for this round, but can't wait to get inspiration from you! So fun being in another ORC with you my friend! Let's do this! XOXO, Sarah

I LOVE your mood boards! And I'm excited to see what you do with the tempaper. I just used some to cover the back of a bookshelf and it was FANTASTIC to work with on a small space. Can't wait to see how it works out on something larger :)

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